As is always the case, CES 2012 was a complete blur of big product announcements, bleeding-edge technology and a mass of humanity clamoring to see it all. Our coverage of the event and the various product announcements came so fast and furious that, unless you were checking the page every few minutes (not a bad idea actually), you probably missed at least a few highlights. Fear not, as we're going to aggregate all of the major product announcements to hit our news channel, here in one big roll-up on the following pages. In addition, some of what we considered to be the "Best of CES" type...Read more...

We don't want to go so far as to call the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas the Rocky Balboa of technology conventions, but let's face it, there's a bit of uncertainty in regards to its longevity. In the past few years, CES didn't seem to bustle to the same extent it once did, and the gut punch this year came when Microsoft announced this would be the last time it would have a major presence at the show, giving up its floor space and not committing to future keynotes. Is CES done for? Not quite. As it turns out, CES 2012 was the largest in the event's 44 year history with a record number of...Read more...

We still can't get over the irony: Although Microsoft now owns Skype, the video calling service is still not available on Microsoft's Windows Phone platform. Microsoft has promised Skype will be available someday to Windows Phone users, but that's still a pretty vague timeframe. It would appear the Windows Phone Skype app may be nearing its release. During an interview at CES 2012, Skype's VP of products, Rick Osterloh, said the company is working on a Windows Phone product that will be "coming out soon." Although we still don't know an exact timeframe, this gives us a bit more hope that the app...Read more...

"Smart" is still in, and while 3D took a back seat to a lot of other things at CES 2012, intelligence is still at the front of most companies' minds. Samsung is tapping into a technology developed by Flixster and Rovi, where consumers will be able to import their existing Blu-ray and DVD collections from participating studios into the UltraViolet Cloud, which will make them viewable on a wide range of products. Moreover, Disc to Digital can work with any authorized retail service and will initially be available using a new Flixster application on Samsung's Smart Hub. When consumers insert an eligible...Read more...

Small is in, and there's little questioning that. And the latest "small" gizmo is coming to us courtesy of HSTi. The company's Moboplay Pocket Media Player is said to be the world's smallest, measuring just 60mm x 64mm, which is smaller than a credit card. Even being that compact, it's capable of playing back 1080p material via HDMI, and there's a USB port / SD card slot if you want to load media up via either of those methods. Or, you could plug in the company's Wireless Media Stick to make similar things happen without wires. Best of all, it's just $89.95; trouble is... how will you keep yourself...Read more...

Mobile payments are quite clearly riding the wave into the future, and with Google Wallet taking charge on just a few phones, there's plenty of opportunity for others to come in and steal some of that pie. Visa has recently begun the certification of smartphones for use as Visa Mobile Payment Devices. In particularly, NFC-enabled smartphones from Samsung Electronics, LG Electronics, and Research In Motion approved for use with Visa payWave, Visa's mobile application for payments at the point-of-sale. Visa payWave will support the Galaxy S II, LG Optimus NET NFC, BlackBerry Bold 9900, Bold 9700...Read more...

GoPro? Nah, it's GoBandit. The company has launched what they're calling the world's first "action cam with integration Wi-Fi" at CES 2012 this week, and while we've seen Wi-Fi make its way into a lot of new stuff recently, this one definitely takes the cake. The first action cam in the world to integrate wireless connectivity, gobandit LIVE allows adrenaline junkies to view, edit and share their videos with their smartphone instantly. With gobandit LIVE, athletes can now share their experiences on the fly. Like the first gobandit action cam, gobandit LIVE allows users to integrate performance...Read more...

WOWee ONE, a company well-versed in ultra-portable speakers, and MicroVision, an outfit responsible for a number of ultra-miniature laser display technologies, are joining forces at CES. They're unveiling their collaboration to bring enhanced mobile visual and audio experiences to smartphone and tablet users in more than 120 countries, and they're teaming together to bring customers a portable, immersive digital consumption experience, by combining WOWee ONE’s revolutionary Gel-Audio based portable speakers with MicroVision’s award winning products based on PicoP portable display engine...Read more...

More Classmate PCs based on Intel’s Learning Series are coming down the pipe; CTL showed off two new models at CES, as did Lenovo, and both companies are offering traditional clamshell laptop and convertible form factors. CTL’s 2go Classmate PC E12 laptop and 2go Convertible Classmate PC NL3 have 10.1-inch screens and feature a dual-core Intel Atom N2600 (1.66 GHz), up to 2GB of DDR3 RAM, and either up to a 320GB-capacity HDD or 128GB SSD, as well as WiFi and Ethernet for connectivity. (The NL3 also has a 3.5G chip inside.) Both have audio jacks, a pair of USB 2.0 ports, VGA, HDMI,...Read more...

Perhaps Dish Network should just pull the plug on Blockbuster completely, but instead it looks like the once popular DVD rental store is destined to die a slow death. The satellite service provider indicated it would be closing more Blockbuster locations in the coming months than originally planned, and those that remain will turn into quasi-Dish Network customer service locations. News of additional closures comes from Dish Network Chief Executive Joe Clayton, who spoke with Reuters at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas this week. Clayton said that any location not making a profit will...Read more...

Samsung isn't among the world's top five PC vendors, not according to IDC or Gartner, both of which lump the manufacturer in the "Others" category behind Hewlett-Packard, Lenovo, Dell, Acer, and Asus. That's just the way it is, though it hasn't stopped Samsung for setting some pretty ambitious goals for itself. One of those goals is to become the market leader in notebooks. Samsung had plenty of new notebook models on display at CES 2012, indicating the company is ready to hit the ground running. Gregory Lee, who serves as Samsung's Executive Vice President, said that the notebook category is becoming...Read more...

Our coverage of the latest technology on display as CES continues today, with some goodies from Zotac. In addition to offering some hot graphics cars, Zotac has also been innovating in the small form factor and mini-ITX motherboard markets, especially over the last couple of years. As such, it should come as no surprise that Zotac had a number of their diminutive ZBOX systems on display, along with a handful of new / upcoming mini-ITX motherboards. Zotac ZBOX Nano ID61 Plus Two new ZBOXes were on display in Zotac’s suite, more specifically, the ZBOX Nano ID82 Plus and the ZBOX ID61 Plus,...Read more...

Well, well -- Microsoft seems to be making more money these days from Android than their own mobile OS. As it turns out, Microsoft has good reason to demand royalties from Android, and so any major company selling Android devices is ripe to be plucked for cash. This week, Microsoft and LG hammered out a patent agreement that covers Android and Chrome OS-based products. The deal is being kept under wraps outside of that, but the implications are clear. Now, 70% of US Android smartphones are covered by these agreements; so when you buy Android, there's a good chance you're benefiting Microsoft. "We...Read more...